Chain flails have been used for many years in forestry equipment for removing bank from tree logs and tree trunks.
Apparently, one of the earlier debarking apparatus used for removing bark from tree trunks is disclosed in the F. E. Hummel U.S. Pat. No. 1,670,723 granted May 22, 1928. Such an apparatus shows the use of flail cylinders that are rotated to move flexible chain flail elements into the path and along the surface of the logs or slabs to remove the bark.
Such systems have been particularly useful in removing bark from logs or trunks that are subsequently cut into chips for use in the making of wood pulp products.
The use of chain flails for removing bark has been quite effective particularly for removing bark from softwoods. However, chain flails have had erratic performance for removing bark from the trunks and logs of hardwood trees and from trees that have suffered fire damage in forest fires. Wood chip manufacturers have been particularly conscious of the need to remove as much bark as possible to minimize the amount of bark in the pulp chips in order to obtain the highest prices possible from the wood pulp manufacturer. If a load of wood chips has too high a percentage of chips containing bark, then the chip receives a considerably lower price. Consequently, there has been a substantial need in the market for devices that improve the performance of removing bark from logs and trunks particularly hardwood logs or those that have been subjected to fire damage.
The principal object and advantage of this invention is to provide a chain flail that significantly increases the performance of chain flails in removing bark from logs and trunks particularly hardwood logs and logs that have been subjected to fire damage.
These and other objectives and advantages of this invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment.